1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of video and still frame capture in portable electronic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various portable electronic devices are designed to capture video and/or still frames (pictures). For example, such portable electronic devices may include hand-held video cameras, digital cameras, personal digital assistants equipped with image sensors (“cameras”), cell phones/smart phones equipped with cameras, tablets equipped with cameras, laptops equipped with cameras, etc.
Devices that support both video capture and still frame capture are becoming common, including the above devices. Such devices often permit the user to capture a still frame during a video capture. For example, the devices may display the video being captured on a screen that is included in the device or attached to the device, and the device may include a button or other user input device that the user can depress to capture the still frame. The “button” may be a physical button on the device, or a virtual button on the screen if the screen is a touch screen.
There are several issues with capturing a still frame during a video capture. First, the video capture is often performed at a lower resolution than the camera supports and the higher resolution of the camera is typically used for the still frames captured when video is not being captured. Second, the aspect ratio of the video is typically 16×9 while still frames are typically captured with a 4×3 aspect ratio. Accordingly, when the user captures a still frame, the lower resolution and the different aspect ratio of the captured still frame can be surprising to the user and can be unsatisfying to the user. Generally, the camera sensor needs to be reconfigured when switching between high resolution still mode and lower resolution video mode, so one cannot simply switch modes to capture a higher resolution still image during video capture.